ABSTRACT
Modern Doha, capital of the small but fabulously wealthy Gulf state of Qatar, is built on the very substance that made modernity possible: oil. Expansion began as the world moved from Empire to free trade and exploded into free market globalised western-style modernity. The principal town and home of the ruling family was Al Bida, founded in 1825, which became known as ad-Dawha or Doha. The demography of Qatar was a mix of settled seaboard Arabs and traders of Persian and Arabic origin in the coastal towns and nomadic Bedouins inland. This chapter outlines the beginnings of Qatar as a modern oil-dependent Arab country and of the rapid growth and development of its main city, Doha. Land reclamation became, and continues to be, a key strategy in Doha for the creation of new high-status city districts. The Grand Mosque and Diwan al Amiri, or Royal Palace, were built around a ceremonial square centred on a landmark clock tower.
